Machines for topping harvested carrots are known in which harvested carrots have been delivered to an accumulation well from which the carrots are elevated by means of an elevating conveyor to an upper position where the elevating conveyor discharges the carrots onto a pocket conveyor, the carrots being constrained to lie generally transverse to the direction of movement of the pocket conveyor by rotary brushes located immediately thereabove, which urge the carrots to occupy elongate pockets arranged across the width of the conveyor. The carrots are then shuttled laterally first in one direction and then in the other by means of transversely extending drive belts one of which travels from left to right and the other of which travels from right to left, the pocket walls being cut away at opposite ends to accommodate a rotary knife or the like so that when the carrots are all located to the right hand ends of the pockets it is the right hand ends of the carrot which are severed by the cutters and when the carrots have been transferred to the left hand ends of the pockets it is the left hand ends of the carrots which are severed.
The topped and tailed ends of the carrots are separated from the central sections which latter are then supplied to an output conveyor.
Historically the cutting of the carrot has occurred on the return path of the pocket conveyor and to this end a cover or guard is provided around the conveyor roller where the conveyor direction changes and a platform is provided on the underside spaced only a very small distance from the underside of the conveyor pockets so that the carrots are prevented from falling out of the pockets and tend to roll within the pockets as they engage the platform and are moved thereacross by the movement of the inverted pocket conveyor. The transversely extending drive belts which engage the carrots and move them from left to right and right to left respectively are located on the platform.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improvements to such a machine which hereinafter will be referred to as a carrot processing machine as aforesaid.